


Liquid Courage

by vix_spes



Series: Kink Me Merlin Fills [2]
Category: Merlin (TV)
Genre: Alcohol, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-15
Updated: 2011-04-15
Packaged: 2018-01-07 19:22:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1123471
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vix_spes/pseuds/vix_spes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Gwaine’s drinking isn’t just down to force of habit ...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Liquid Courage

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the following prompt at [kinkme_merlin](http://kinkme-merlin.livejournal.com): Gwaine is not adjusting well to being a knight of Camelot (i.e. getting into far too much trouble in the taverns and stuff) and Leon is the one who always has to go and drag his drunken ass back to the castle.

Leon groaned as the loud banging on the door woke him from the best nights sleep that he’d had for nearly a week. He’d been out leading the patrols to check how the kingdom was recovering in the aftermath of Cenred’s invasion and he had been relishing the prospect of a full nights sleep in his warm and very comfortable bed. Apparently it wasn’t to be. He stumbled out of bed, not bothering to put on a shirt, and opened the door still half-asleep.

“WHAT?!” He barked at the person on the other side of the door, wincing as he blearily recognised one of his men who was on duty in the citadel that night.

“I’m sorry Sir Leon but there’s a young lad down at the main door who wants to speak to you. He says that it’s urgent.”

Leon groaned but knew that there was nothing that he could do; it was his duty to take care of things of this nature, regardless of the time of day. “Let me get dressed and I’ll be right with you.”

He pulled a tunic on over his trousers and tugged on his boots, belting his sword around his waist as he walked out of the door and shut it.

“Lead on Thomas. Did the boy say what it was about?” He really hoped that it was nothing serious ... he wasn’t really functioning at his best at the moment and he didn’t want to resolve an issue if it wasn’t to the best of his abilities.

“No Sir Leon. He looks like he could be a stable boy from one of the inns down in the lower town.”

Leon rolled his eyes out of sight of the other knight. If that was the case then it could only mean one thing; Gwaine was involved.

He was right of course ... Gwaine was involved. When the boy led him to the right tavern there was Gwaine, lying with his head on the table still in his uniform. He made his way over to him and settled the bill with the coins he took from Gwaine’s money purse, before simply standing over Gwaine’s slumped figure. Within minutes, Gwaine squinted up at him and gave that smile that Leon definitely didn’t think was sexy.

“Leon! What are you doing here?”

“I’m here to take you back to your chambers. What are you playing at Gwaine? You’re a knight of Camelot now, you shouldn’t be getting drunk and passing out in bars. Come on, up you get.”

Leon managed to get Gwaine back to his chambers, although it took a lot longer than it should have done given that Gwaine couldn’t actually walk in a straight line, but he managed it only to find himself tumbled to the bed and pinned down beneath Gwaine. He tried to push the smaller knight off him but couldn’t quite get the right leverage. Instead, he lay back and resigned himself to a night of being used as a pillow rather than lying in his own comfortable bed ... not the night he’d been expecting.

Second time that week...

Leon resisted the urge to squeak out loud as a hand groped his arse shamelessly. When he turned around, the hand that was groping him belonged, unsurprisingly, to Gwaine and the knight was looking at him unrepentantly. All he could do was hope that no-one in the bar had seen Gwaine’s behaviour. He didn’t want to Gwaine to be exiled from Camelot before he actually accomplished anything.

Third time that week...

“Your hair’s so soft. It’s all silky.”

Leon struggled to keep himself from moaning as those long fingers, covered in calluses from holding a sword, ran through his hair and petted him as though he were a kitten. Really, Gwaine could try the patience of a saint. And Leon was no saint.

Fourth time that week...

“Did you know that your eyes are grey close up? They’ve got little flecks of blue as well. It’s pretty. You’re pretty.”

Leon simply rolled said eyes and dumped Gwaine unceremoniously into bed. He was determined not to read too much into the man’s words, simply putting them down to too much alcohol. He had no intention of setting himself up for a fall.

~*~

A month later and Leon was seriously unimpressed with Gwaine’s behaviour. Despite numerous lectures from Leon and even from Arthur, he hadn’t changed his behaviour at all and even Leon asking Merlin to have a word hadn’t changed anything. At least twice a week the man went to one of the many taverns in the lower town and proceeded to drink himself senseless to the extent that he either passed out or started fights, neither of which was befitting of a knight of Camelot. Despite Gwaine being a relatively new knight, he was still regarded as one of Arthur’s inner circle and as such whenever he acted like this, it was Leon that was called to deal with it.

He had never seen Gwaine like this though; the majority of the time the man was an affectionate drunk (Leon had been groped, used as a pillow, told his hair was silky being petted like a kitten in the process and told that he had pretty eyes), he was never morose or, he supposed, depressed was a better word for it.

“Damn it Gwaine, why do you keep on doing this? I have better things to do with my time than keep hauling your drunken arse out of taverns and bars. This isn’t how a knight of Camelot behaves.”

Leon couldn’t help but grunt as he shouldered Gwaine’s weight; the other knight was shorter than Leon but he was still well-built and muscled from years of fighting and now regular training under Arthur’s strict guidance. “You can’t keep doing this, it has to stop. I’m not going to keep on dragging you out of stupid situations. I actually want a decent nights sleep for once.” They ground to a halt as Gwaine dug his feet into the cobbles and refused to move any further.

“Gwaine, what the hell are you playing at? You can’t stop here. Come on, we need to get you back to your rooms. You’re a knight of Camelot now; we have a reputation to uphold and acting like this isn’t upholding our reputation. I don’t understand it; you’ve settled into training and patrols, everything else but not this.”

“You don’t get it.”

“Don’t get what? I’m sorry Gwaine but I don’t have time for your drunken ramblings now. It’s two am and we have training at eight; I need sleep.”

He didn’t know what kind of response he was expecting but it certainly wasn’t to be shoved against the nearest convenient wall and have his mouth claimed in a heated and almost aggressive kiss. It was by no means perfect; teeth clashing, noses bumping and generally just messy and unrefined, but Leon was taken aback by how good it felt.

“Gwaine, you’re drunk and you don’t know what you’re doing. Let’s just get you to your chambers, you can sleep this off and we won’t mention it again.” Was it just him or was that hurt on Gwaine’s face?

“Is that what you want?”

Oh gods, he didn’t think anyone could pull an abandoned and kicked puppy look as good as Merlin but the look that Gwaine was currently giving him definitely came close. Did Gwaine really want this? He didn’t want to take the risk if this was just the alcohol talking.

“Gwaine, you’ve obviously had too much to drink.”

“No, you’re just dense. I’m sober, or near enough. I thought you were supposed to be intelligent or do you not get subtle hints?”

“So you getting drunk and acting like a complete idiot?”

“It’s called attention-seeking or liquid courage. Figured it was my only option.”

“Your only option for what? To make a drunken idiot of yourself when you’ve finally been made a knight of Camelot? You need to stop doing this Gwaine, I can’t keep dragging your drunken arse back to the castle every couple of days.”

“My only option to get you to notice me outside of training. To get you to want me.”

“You want me? You want this? Fine.”

Leon spun them around so that he was pinning Gwaine against the wall and lowered his head the necessary few inches to claim the tempting lips. If this was what Gwaine wanted then there was no way that he was going to complain, especially when he wanted it himself. Besides, if Gwaine was in his bed then there was no way that he’d be in the tavern getting drunk. He’d have other things to occupy his attention.

**Author's Note:**

> If you would prefer to comment on LJ, you can do so [here](http://vix-spes.livejournal.com/51693.html)


End file.
